EP 0995218 A1 2000-04-26 - PLASMA TREATER SYSTEMS

Title (en)

Title (de)

Title (fr)

Publication

Application

Priority

IB 9801058 W 19980713

US 5241797 P 19970714

US 94771697 A 19971009

US 94771497 A 19971009

Abstract (en)

[origin: WO9904411A1] Continuous-feed plasma treater systems are designed to treat continuous, such as webs or films, by continuously feeding the substrates through an enclosure having a plasma discharge that alters the substrate's surface properties in some desirable fashion. The plasma discharges are generated by one or more electrode assemblies housed within the enclosure. In general, the plasma treater systems of the present invention have one or more cylinder-sleeve electrode assemblies and/or one or more cylindrical cavity electrode assemblies. A cylinder-sleeve electrode assembly comprises a cylinder electrode and a sleeve electrode positioned with its concave face facing and substantially parallel to the cylinder electrode to form an annular gap between the outer surface of the cylinder electrode and the inner surface of the sleeve electrode. The electrode assembly is adapted to be excited to generate a plasma within the annular gap to form a primary plasma discharge zone for exposure of the plasma to a substrate. A cylindrical cavity electrode assembly comprises (1) a cavity electrode, having a cylindrical bore and a wall slot running parallel to the cylindrical bore and exposing the cylindrical bore; (2) a cylinder electrode coaxially positioned within the cylindrical bore of the cavity electrode to form an annular gap between the outer surface of the cylinder electrode and the surface of the cylindrical bore, the annular gap forming a primary plasma discharge zone; and (3) a treater drum positioned adjacent to the wall slot of the cavity electrode. During operations, the substrate is translated past the wall slot by the treater drum and exposed to plasma species that are convected from the primary plasma discharge zone to the wall slot. Plasma treater systems of the present invention can be used (a) to treat substrates in an efficient cost-effective manner and (b) to produce treated substrates having superior surface properties as compared to those generated using prior-art systems, such as corona-type discharge systems.